Create a Grievance
This guide describes how to register a grievance in the MIS. Grievances can also arrive through the public website form, KoboToolbox or Survey Solutions (see the end of this page).
Open the form
- Menu Grievances (GRM) → Grievances.
- Add ▸ New grievance (permission Create grievances).
The form opens in a dialog with five sections.
1. Search a beneficiary or household
Type a phone number, a household code, a beneficiary code or a name: results prefill the name, phone, address and location. Tick The complainant is the beneficiary when it applies, otherwise give the Relationship with the head of household. With no result, fill in the details manually.
2. Complainant information
| Field | Required | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Anonymous grievance | no | When ticked, identity fields are hidden; no acknowledgement can be sent |
| Full name | yes, unless anonymous | |
| Phone | no | Recommended: used for the acknowledgement and duplicate detection |
| no | ||
| Sex | no | |
| Address | no | |
| Complainant eligibility | no | Eligible (programme beneficiary) or Not eligible |
3. Grievance classification
| Field | Required |
|---|---|
| Project | yes (prefilled with the default project) |
| Grievance type: Non-sensitive (standard) or Sensitive (SEA/SH/GBV) | yes |
| Category, then Type | yes |
| Priority | yes (Medium by default) |
| Reception channel | no |
| Subject | yes |
| Description | yes |
Categories and types come from Settings → Grievance categories / types, filtered by component. A grievance marked Sensitive follows the SEA/SH workflow and is only visible to authorised agents (see Sensitive grievances).
4. Geographic location
Region → Sector → Tabanca, free-text description of the place, and optional GPS coordinates (latitude, longitude, accuracy in metres).
5. Notifications
Two checkboxes, always offered:
- Notify the National Coordinator
- Notify the Component Coordinator
Ticked coordinators receive an e-mail and an in-app notification as soon as the grievance is created. See Notifications.
Duplicate detection
On save, the system looks for recent grievances from the same complainant (name, phone) on the same subject. If any, it shows Checking duplicates… then the list of close grievances: you can cancel or confirm creation despite the detected duplicates.
After creation
- The grievance gets its reference (configured nomenclature, by default
22600001for project 2 in 2026), the Open status, and appears in the list. - The screen offers to open the record to send the acknowledgement, take over or assign (see Processing).
Offline
Without network, the button becomes Save locally: the grievance gets a temporary LOCAL-… reference and is sent when the network returns. Sensitive grievances cannot be created offline. See Working offline.
Other entry points
| Source | How |
|---|---|
| Public site | The site's grievance form and the public Bemba assistant create grievances with the “Public site” source and the matching channel |
| KoboToolbox | Kobo - Grievances menu: synchronise the submissions of a configured Kobo form, then categorise each pending grievance (project, category, type, priority, SEA/SH, send acknowledgement). A probable duplicate (same complainant, same subject) is flagged |
| Survey Solutions | Survey Solutions - Grievances menu (permission Import grievances from Survey Solutions): import grievance-type questionnaires, then categorise |
In all three cases the grievance then follows the same processing as one entered in the MIS.